MLB Player News

Baty is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Phillies.

After he recently missed out on three straight starts due to a groin injury, Baty returned to the lineup this weekend and went 0-for-8 with a walk and a run scored while covering third base in the first two contests of the series. He's not believed to be dealing with any sort of setback with the groin injury, as his absence from the lineup Sunday likely has more to do with southpaw Jesus Luzardo taking the hill for the Phillies. Baty has produced a lowly .420 OPS thus far in June, and he could be at risk of losing out on playing time against right-handed pitching when Mark Vientos (hamstring) likely returns from the injured list during the upcoming week.

Espinal is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Cardinals.

After starting at third base in three of the past four games, Espinal appeared to have taken back primary duties from the struggling Christian Encarnacion-Strand, but both players will be left out of the lineup Sunday. Gavin Lux will step in at the hot corner, opening up the designated hitter spot for Tyler Stephenson, who gets a day off from catching.

Norby is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against Atlanta.

After going 4-for-19 with a home run, four walks, one stolen base, two RBI and an additional run while starting six straight games, Norby will get a breather. Javier Sanoja will fill in for Norby at third base.

Shaw will start at third base and bat seventh in Sunday's game against the Mariners.

After resting in Saturday's 10-7 win, Shaw will return to the lineup for the series finale. The rookie has settled in as Chicago's primary third baseman and has shown some promise, though he's slumping a bit this month with a .172/.200/.276 slash line in 17 June games.

Brujan will start at second base and bat ninth in Sunday's game against the Mariners.

Brujan isn't seeing regular playing time off the bench for the Cubs, though he'll get his second straight start Sunday. After replacing a resting Matt Shaw at third base in Saturday's 10-7 win and going 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored, Brujan will get a start out of the middle infield Sunday while Dansby Swanson receives a breather. Brujan isn't providing much offense with a .179 batting average and .457 OPS across 29 plate appearances this season.

Suarez went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and a second RBI in Saturday's 5-3 win over the Rockies.

Suarez has been particularly strong at the plate lately, going deep nine times in his last 13 games. He's batting .353 (18-for-51) with 21 RBI in that span. Suarez is one of four players in the majors to reach the 25-homer mark through Saturday's action, and he's added an .892 OPS with 67 RBI, 48 runs scored, 14 doubles and a stolen base over 76 contests. He's on pace to reach the 40-homer mark for the second time, and matching his career high of 49 long balls from 2019 is within the reasonable range of possibilities.

Bohm went 2-for-3 with an RBI, a run scored and a walk during Saturday's 11-4 defeat to the Mets.

Bohm extended his hitting streak to seven games, and he's also recorded at least one knock in 10 of his last 11 outings. The corner infielder was batting a weak .220 as of May 3, but he's turned his season around in a big way over the past month and a half. Over his last 43 contests (180 plate appearances), Bohm is slashing .347/.389/.515 with seven home runs, seven doubles, 26 RBI and 21 runs scored.

Machado went 2-for-5 with a solo home run, a double and an additional run scored Friday in a loss to Kansas City.

Machado had two of San Diego's three extra-base hits in the loss, knocking a ground-rule double in the seventh inning and a solo homer in the ninth. The veteran third baseman continues to pick up the pace in the power department -- after going deep just three times in his first 48 games, Machado has homered nine times in his subsequent 27 contests. He's also been able to maintain a high batting average, as he's currently on pace for a career-best mark of .311 through 318 plate appearances.

Shaw isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Mariners.

Shaw will get a day to reset after going 1-for-23 over his last seven games. Vidal Brujan will fill the void at third base and bat ninth while Shaw rests.

Riley went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Friday's 6-2 loss to the Marlins.

Riley hit his 12th home run of the season, pushing him into sole possession of second place on the team. It was nice to see the pop return to the 28-year-old's bat, as Friday's homer was his first extra-base hit in nine games. However, the strikeout numbers remain most concerning with Riley, who has now struck out at least once in nine straight games and 15 times total over that stretch. His strikeout rate sits at 28.7 percent for the season.